1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to project management, and more particularly to a centralized system and method for managing, tracking and reporting enterprise operations.
2. Related Art
Managing projects in a modem enterprise consisting of multiple organizational work-groups is a complicated endeavor. Several types of computerized tools have emerged to assist in this process. Such tools include project management, group collaboration, workflow management and organizational charting tools.
Project management tools generally provide tracking and reporting functions related to user-defined projects. In particular, these tools provide a means to define projects, schedule tasks and assign resources for projects. Generally, these tools are not actively used for performing the tasks within the projects but to track the progress of the projects for reporting purposes and the like. As such, conventional project management tools require additional resources beyond those defined for the projects themselves, just to maintain and keep them up-to-date. For example, administrators are typically assigned the task of entering and maintaining data associated with conventional project management software.
Typically, organizations within an enterprise create and maintain separate project management systems. Thus, conventional project management systems typically lack the capability for tracking projects on an inter-organizational basis.
Group collaboration and workflow management tools are actively used by team members for performing specific tasks. These tools generally provide a capability for sharing electronic documents among specified work-group members. Workflow management tools generally manage the electronic flow of documents between group members according to pre-defined workflow definitions. For example, tasks, often in the form of to-do-lists and the like, are sent to in-boxes associated with groups or individuals assigned to the tasks.
Enterprise organizational charts are typically created and maintained with organizational charting tools. These tools are used to keep track of the current organizational structure of the enterprise. These tools are typically stand-alone devices that are maintained by administrators or the like.
The problem with these conventional tools as outlined above, is that none of them, either alone or in combination, provide a complete solution for multiple organizational work-groups within an enterprise. The fact that these tools are segmented creates problems of inefficiency. For example, generally each class of tool requires different types of maintenance and customization techniques.
Additional inefficiencies occur because such tools generally do not share data among them. Thus, redundant and additional time-consuming data-entry is often required. For example, suppose an enterprise organization structure changes. This could effect not only the organizational chart, but also many of the projects that are dependant upon specific organizational groups and the like. Thus, redundant data entry is required.
In another example, suppose one or more project schedules change. This change not only affects the project management tracking system, but could also affect one or more of the pre-defined work flow definitions in the work flow management system.
Further, conventional systems are often inaccessible from remote locations outside the enterprise. It would be desirable access all of the enterprise management tools from remote locations. To further complicate matters, these conventional tools do not generally have a consistent user interface.
It would be desirable to have a project management system that is actively used and accessed by team members during projects, so that the tracking and reporting capabilities are automatically updated as tasks are completed.
In addition, none of the conventional tools described above facilitates the process of purchasing goods or services for an enterprise. The tasks of requesting, sourcing and purchasing goods or services can comprise a significant activity for many projects. Such tasks include: defining requirements by completing specs; generating requests for price quotations (RFQs) from the specs; sending RFQs to suppliers; accepting bids from suppliers; and generating purchase orders (POs) for the goods or services.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a project management system that includes a means to facilitate the time-consuming process of purchasing goods or services for an enterprise.